A collective crash after five kilometers of the Tour de France’s 14th stage led to the race being neutralized for about half an hour and South African cyclist Louis Meintjes (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty), 13th overall, retired.
The fall, five kilometers after the start of the 151.8 between Annemasse and Morzine, led to the temporary neutralization of the 14th stage, with the organization stopping the peloton so that the medical services could assist all those involved, namely Meintjes, who was forced to give up.
“We are saddened to announce that Louis Meintjes has broken his collarbone in the fall of the 14th stage and is leaving the Tour de France,” Intermarché-Circus-Wanty reported on his account on the social network Twitter.
In addition to the Portuguese colleague Rui Costa, who finished 13th overall, 9.41 minutes from the yellow jersey, the Dane Jonas Vingegaard, the Spaniard Antonio Pedrero (Movistar) and the Colombian Esteban Chaves (EF Education-EasyPost) also retired in the series of autumn.
Australian Jai Hindley (BORA-hansgrohe), third overall, also fell, as did Britain’s Thomas Pidcock (INEOS), eighth, but both are doing well according to their teams and are still in the race.
The Tour organization has already resumed the 14th stage half an hour after the crash and thus made a second real start for the remaining kilometers to Morzine.
French cyclist Romain Bardet (DSM-Firmenich), 12th overall, retired from the 110th Tour de France shortly after the race resumed.
Shortly after the 14th run resumed, the 2016 Tour runner-up and third the following year crashed on a downhill and was forced to retire.
“After your fall at km 25, [Bardet] leaves the Tour for the second time due to a crash, after the 2020 edition,” the Tour de France organization recalls in the ‘video’ of the stage.
DSM-Firmenich also confirmed the withdrawal of the 32-year-old Frenchman and promised updates on the health condition of the cyclist, who was also the ‘king of the mountain’ of the 2019 Tour, for later.
Britain’s James Shaw (EF Education-Easypost) abandoned the race after a fall at kilometer 25 of the run. The Portuguese Ruben Guerreiro (Movistar) also stopped during the 14th stage of the 110th Tour de France, the organization of the French race said.
It is the second time in a row that the 29-year-old Portuguese cyclist has withdrawn from the Tour de France, having withdrawn due to illness before the start of the ninth stage last year. Guerreiro was fourth in the sixth stage of this edition of the ‘Grande Boucle’ and ninth in the 12th, stages in which he was part of the day’s breakaway.
Source: DN
